Pros

Cons

Bottom Line

Sony's A1E series of OLED TVs shows off the technology's capability for perfect blacks and wide colors, with the power and features of Android TV under the hood.

Sept. 30, 2017

We've been consistently impressed by OLED technology in TVs, but for the last few years it's almost exclusively been LG's purview. Sony's biggest attempt, the 4K, HDR-compatible A1E series, shows that it's the panel more than the manufacturer that produces the perfect blacks, impressive contrast, and wide color gamut we love to see. It also shows that OLED TVs will remain very expensive for the forseeable future, with the 65-inch XBR-65A1E we tested retailing for $4,499.99. If money is no object, the Android TV-powered, stunningly designed Sony A1E line is certainly worth your consideration, though LG maintains a slight edge in color performance.

Design

The A1E has a unique, easel-like minimalist design that really needs to be seen to be believed. Thanks to OLED technology not needing any sort of backlight system, the screen itself is just a quarter of an inch thick. It's almost completely free of bezel, with a single pane of glass running edge to edge. A narrow metal strip on the bottom hides the power light in the middle. It's gorgeous.

If you look at the TV from the front, you won't see any stand. The screen extends from the very surface on which you place the A1E, angled slightly back by a wide leg mounted on the back. The leg bears most of the TV's weight, balanced thanks to a very heavy foot that screws into the bottom. A similar sized rectangular block on the back of the screen, supported by a metal crossbar, keeps the weight of the TV off of the thin panel. This setup means the TV is tilted slightly, but it's a subtle angle that doesn't interfere with viewing. If you prefer to have the TV perfectly vertical, the A1E's leg can be folded and the back weight removed to make it suitable for wall mounting.

All of the A1E's wired connections are built into the back of the leg, facing downward from a recess located a few inches up from the bottom. They include four HDMI ports, two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, an optical audio output, an Ethernet port, and 3.5mm connectors for composite/component video connections, RS-232C control integration, and an IR receiver. There are no physical controls on the TV itself.

Remote and Android TV

For such a uniquely designed, top-of-the-line TV, the A1E includes a pretty conventional remote. It's a 7.9-by-2-inch (HW) black rectangle covered in textured membrane buttons. The circular navigation pad is located in the center and is slightly curved to make it easy to find under the thumb. A number pad, four color buttons, and dedicated buttons for Google Play and Netflix sit above the navigation pad, while volume and channel rockers and playback controls sit below it.

The remote has no touchpad or air mouse functionality for fine on-screen pointer control like LG's Magic Remote, and the commands are all sent via infrared rather than Bluetooth and so require line of sight with the TV. However, a pinhole microphone is included for voice search and simple information functions, like checking the weather.

Like other connected Sony TVs, the A1E uses Android TV for its interface and app platform. This means the TV has a wealth of apps and services, with the biggest names for streaming video and music readily available. You can access Amazon Video, Crunchyroll, Google Play (Movies & TV, Music, and Games if you want to pair a Bluetooth gamepad with the TV), Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, Sling TV, Spotify, TuneIn, Twitch, and Vudu. Android TV also enables Google Cast streaming, so you can treat the A1E as if it has a Google Chromecast plugged into it.

Performance

OLED technology has greatly impressed us in the past thanks to its ability to produce a perfectly dark black level and generate a wide, accurate range of colors. However, we've only seen OLED TVs from LG so far, not counting the 11-inch, $3,000 XEL-1 Sony released nearly a decade ago. The A1E is Sony's first big OLED TV, and we've been excited about seeing how OLED panels from other manufacturers stack up to the superlative picture quality LG's OLED TVs produce, like the Editors' Choice LG OLEDC7P series.

Using an 18-percent white window pattern, we measured a peak brightness of 470.22cd/m2 in the TV's Vivid mode, and a much more modest 189.92cd/m2 in Cinema Pro mode. Since the OLED panel produces no light, the A1E has "infinite" contrast, like the LG OLEDC7P. The LED-based TCL 55P607, for comparison, features a peak brightness of 507.85 cd/m2 and a black level of 0.02cd/m2 for a 25,393:1 contrast ratio, which is among the best you'll see with LED TVs.

OLED panels can consistently reach well beyond Rec.709 broadcast standards for color, producing a wider range of colors when the content supports it, like in HDR videos with wide color gamut. The A1E shows some impressive color reach, particularly in the greens, but we noticed a few quirks in testing.

Typically, we measure color accuracy using a TV's Cinema, Custom, or Pro mode using the warmest color temperature preset for the best performance the average user can expect out of the box without performing a full calibration. In addition to Cool, Normal, and Warm color temperature presets, the A1E also has two Expert color temperature settings. There's also a Live Color option that the documentation says increases the vividness of color separate from the standard Color slider that adjusts saturation. Typically, the combination of the Cinema picture mode and the warmest color temperature setting produces the best out-of-the-box color accuracy. Instead, we found very similar performance between the Cinema Pro and Vivid modes while using the Expert 1 color teperature setting for both.

The above chart shows Rec.709 color values as boxes and measured color values as dots in the Vivid picture mode. While whites run slightly cool and yellows slightly green, color measurements are still generously wide and fairly accurate, with a strong reach into greens and reds and very balanced cyans and magentas. Curiously, the Cinema Pro picture mode shows a color gamut that's very slightly worse, with whites that lean toward cyan, reds and magentas that are closer to straight Rec.709 values instead of reaching a bit past them, and blues that are just a tiny bit undersaturated. Yellows are more accurate in this mode, that's about it. Neither picture mode quite hits the color performance of the LG C7P series, which boasts a wider reach into blues and more accurate whites and yellows. As with any flagship TV, these complaints can likely be fixed with a full calibration, which we recommend for users who are already considering spending several thousand dollars on a new TV.

The incredible contrast and wide color range of the A1E makes Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 look fantastic. The opening sequence with the space monster attacking the Sovereign is stunning, with the rainbow particles and auroras the monster spew looking bright and vivid, and the neon of the credits burning brightly against the action. The perfect blacks of the OLED panel also ensure ideal letterboxing, making the black bars above and below the anamorphic picture disappear against the edge of the screen.

The Great Gatsby shows off just how good the A1E's contrast and perfect black levels can make certain films look. The party scenes are filled with bright lights that highlight parts of the frame, and black suits that can often disappear into muddiness in the shadows. The A1E shows the contours and texture of the various costumes in almost all lighting conditions while maintaining the wide contrast, not letting shadows appear washed out or turning blacks into dark grays. Skin tones appear natural in both bright indoor and sparsely lit outdoor shots.

Input Lag and Power Consumption

Input lag is the amount of time between when a TV receives a signal and the screen updates. The A1E performs poorly in this category, with a 109.9ms input lag in its Vivid picture mode. The Game picture mode cuts this down to 47.4ms, but that's still past the 30-40ms input lag range we like to see in TVs, and far past the 15ms we've seen in very responsive TVs. The LG OLEDC7P, for contrast, has an input lag of 21.2ms in its Game mode.

The A1E's OLED panel is a power hog. Under normal viewing conditions, the TV consumes 415 watts in its very bright Vivid mode and 226 watts in its slightly dimmer Cinema Home mode. The 55-inch LG OLED55C7P is similarly needy, consuming 242 watts in its power-saving APS mode. LED TVs are much more energy-efficient; the 65-inch Vizio M65-E0 consumes 151 watts in its bright Calibrated mode and 91 watts in its dimmer Calibrated (Dark) mode.

Conclusions

The Sony A1E shows that fantastic picture quality provided by OLED technology isn't solely LG's thing. It's a striking, feature-filled TV with fantastic contrast and a very wide color reach. LG's OLEDC7P series has more accurate color out of the box, while Sony's whites and yellows could use a bit of tightening through professional calibration. The A1E's design is truly a thing of beauty, and Android TV provides a bit more power and functionality than LG's WebOS, but the button-filled remote is clunkier and less friendly without an air mouse function. Both OLED TVs are excellent, but LG's superior color performance and input lag give it an edge over the A1E, and keep the C7P as our Editors' Choice. If OLED TVs are out of your budget, the TCL P-series and Vizio M-series LED TVs offer excellent performance (though not OLED-level) for a fraction of the price.

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About the Author

Will Greenwald has been covering consumer technology for a decade, and has served on the editorial staffs of CNET.com, Sound & Vision, and Maximum PC. His work and analysis has been seen in GamePro, Tested.com, Geek.com, and several other publications. He currently covers consumer electronics in the PC Labs as the in-house home entertainment expert, reviewing TVs, media hubs, speakers, headphones, and gaming accessories. Will is also an ISF Level II-certified TV calibrator, which ensures the thoroughness and accuracy of all PCMag TV reviews. See Full Bio